Statistical Image Recovery From Laser Speckle Patterns With Polarization Diversity

Abstract

This research extends the theory and understanding of the laser speckle imaging technique. This non-traditional imaging technique may be employed to improve space situational awareness and image deep space objects from a ground-based sensor system. The use of this technique is motivated by the ability to overcome aperture size limitations and the distortion effects from Earth?s atmosphere. Laser speckle imaging is a lensless, coherent method for forming two-dimensional images from their autocorrelation functions. Phase retrieval from autocorrelation data is an ill-posed problem where multiple solutions exist. This research introduces polarization diversity as a method for obtaining additional information so the structure of the object being reconstructed can be improved. Results show that in some cases the images restored using polarization diversity are superior to those reconstructed without it.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2010
Accession Number
ADA527822

Entities

People

  • Donald B. Dixon

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Sensors
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Computational Science
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Geosynchronous Orbits
  • Imaging Techniques
  • Information Processing
  • Information Science
  • Lasers
  • Mathematical Models
  • Optical Detection
  • Optical Detectors
  • Random Variables
  • Space Situational Awareness
  • Statistical Algorithms
  • Statistical Analysis
  • Two Dimensional

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Distributed Systems and Data Platform Development
  • Image Processing and Computer Vision.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Space
  • Space - Space Objects